In a “steer-by-wire” system that provides directional control to a vehicle, the displacement of a steering input device is detected by a sensor and converted into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is processed and applied to motor-operated steerable device actuator attached to a steerable device of the vehicle (wheels, skis, nozzles, jets, propellers, etc.), which are then moved according to the signal received by the motor.
The absence of mechanical linkage between the steering input device and the steerable device actuator allows space that would otherwise be occupied by the mechanical linkage to be utilized in a more efficient manner. Because of the lack of mechanical communication between the steerable device and the steering input device, however, the steerable device and the steering input device may be independently manipulated when the vehicle is non-operational. If either or both the steering input device and the steerable device are manipulated when the vehicle is non-operational, the actuators for the respective steering input device and the steerable device may be out of synchronization with each other upon start up of the vehicle. Consequently, the actuators may require adjustment prior to operation of the vehicle. Such adjustment may include repositioning of the steering input device to correspond with the position of the steerable device actuators, alignment of the steerable device actuators to correspond with the position of the steering input device, or both the repositioning of the steering input device and the alignment of the steerable device.